Positive signs for the US housing market.

The slight increase in property sales has reduced the number of homes on the market to its lowest level since April 2006. This was made possible, as sellers reduced the offered prices of previously owned properties, which led to a rise in sales with 4.3% inJanuary. However this increase caused a drop of the median price, which fell 4.6% in the month to $154,700, down 2% from the same month last year.

Experts follow closely the sales of existing homes, also known as home resalesto indicate housing market strengths and weaknesses. The current positive trend is stimulated by the very favourable market conditions such as the record-low mortgage interest rates, thesustained job creation and rising rents.

As housing affordability conditions improved, the number of first-time buyers rose to 33% of transactions in January, a 2% increase compared to the numbers from December.

Some analysts assume that the increase in resale was due to the favorable weather conditions during January, but an increase of 13% over the past six months and by 38% from the collapse in mid-2010, is a clear sign of underlying recovery.

Domaza - Properties